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Bangladesh
}} |'' }} | conventional_long_name = People's Republic of Bangladesh | common_name = Bangladesh | image_flag = Flag of Bangladesh.svg | image_coat = National emblem of Bangladesh.svg | symbol_type = Emblem |other_symbol = |other_symbol_type = }}}} | national_anthem = | }} | image_map = Bangladesh (orthographic projection).svg | image_map2 = Bangladesh - Location Map (2013) - BGD - UNOCHA.svg |official_languages = Bangla (Bengali)) |languages_type = Other languages |languages = English | ethnic_groups = | ethnic_groups_year = 1998 | demonym = Bangladeshi | capital = Dhaka | latd=23 |latm=42 |latNS=N |longd=90 |longm=21 |longEW=E | largest_city = Dhaka | legislature = Jatiyo Sangshad | State religion = Islam | government_type = Unitary parliamentary republic | leader_title1 = President | leader_name1 = Abdul Hamid | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = |leader_title3 =Prime Minister |leader_name3 =Sheikh Hasina |leader_title4 = Chief Justice |leader_name4 = | sovereignty_type = Formation |established_event1 = Partition of British India |established_date1 = 14 August 1947 |established_event2 = Declaration of Independence |established_date2 = 26 March 1971 |established_event3 = Liberation of Bangladesh |established_date3 = 16 December 1971 |established_event4 = Constitution |established_date4 = 4 November 1972 | area_km2 = 147,570 | area_sq_mi = 56,977 | area_rank = 94th | area_magnitude = | percent_water = 6.4 | population_census_year = 2011 | population_estimate = 150,039,000 | population_estimate_year = March 2013 | population_estimate_rank = 8th | population_density_km2 = 1,033.5 | population_density_sq_mi = 2,676.8 | population_density_rank = 12th | GDP_PPP_year = 2013 | GDP_PPP = $324.628 billion | GDP_PPP_rank = 43rd | GDP_PPP_per_capita = $2,083 | GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 154th | GDP_nominal = $153.58 billion | GDP_nominal_rank = 43rd | GDP_nominal_year = 2013 | GDP_nominal_per_capita = $899 | GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 150th | Gini_year = 2010 | Gini_change = | Gini = 32.1 | Gini_ref = | Gini_rank = | HDI_year = 2013 | HDI_change = increase | HDI = 0.515 | HDI_ref = | HDI_rank = | FSI = 0.4}} | FSI_year = 2007 | FSI_rank = 16th | FSI_category = Alert | currency = Taka ( ) | currency_code = BDT | time_zone = BST | utc_offset = +6 |date_format = }}}} | drives_on = left | calling_code = +880 |ISO_3166–1_alpha2 = BD |ISO_3166–1_alpha3 = BGD |ISO_3166–1_numeric = 050 |sport_code = BGD |vehicle_code = BD | cctld = .bd }} '''Bangladesh' ; ( , , lit. "The nation of Bengal"), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( ), is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India to its west, north and east; Burma to its southeast and separated from Nepal and Bhutan by the Chicken’s Neck corridor. To its south, it faces the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh is the world's eighth-most populous country, with over 160 million people, and among the most densely populated countries. It forms part of the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal, along with the neighbouring Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. The present-day borders of Bangladesh took shape during the Partition of Bengal and British India in 1947, when the region used to be known as East Pakistan, as a part of the newly formed state of Pakistan. It was separated from West Pakistan by 1 400 km of Indian territory. Due to political exclusion, ethnic and linguistic discrimination and economic neglect by the politically dominant western wing, nationalism, popular agitation and civil disobedience led to the Bangladesh Liberation War and independence in 1971. After independence, the new state endured poverty, famine, political turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by relative calm and economic progress. In 2014, the Bangladeshi general election was boycotted by major opposition parties, resulting in a parliament and government dominated by the Awami League and its smaller coalition partners. Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic with an elected parliament called the Jatiyo Sangshad. Bengalis form the country's largest ethnic group, along with indigenous peoples in northern and southeastern districts. Geographically, the country is dominated by the fertile Bengal delta, the world's largest delta. The four largest and constitutionally recognized religions in the country are Islam (89%), Hinduism (8%), Buddhism (1%) and Christianity (0.5%). Bangladesh is identified as a Next Eleven economy. It has achieved significant strides in human and social development since independence, including in progress in gender equity, universal primary education, food production, health and population control.United Nations Development Programme in Bangladesh: HDR 2010 recognises Bangladesh's great progress over time. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2012. However, Bangladesh continues to face numerous political, economic, social and environmental challenges, including political instability, corruption, poverty, overpopulation and climate change. Bangladesh is a founding member of SAARC, the Developing 8 Countries and BIMSTEC. It contributes one of the largest peacekeeping forces to the United Nations. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement. History Ancient period (1st century CE) is the earliest surviving map of the Bengal DeltaAmitabha Bhattacharyya, Historical geography of ancient and early mediaeval Bengal, page 37, Sanskrit Pustak Bhandar, 1977Thomas Suárez, Shedding the Veil: Mapping the European Discovery of America and the World, page 20, World Scientific, 1992, ISBN 9789810208691]] Remnants of civilization in the greater Bengal region date back four thousand years to when the region was settled by ancient Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic peoples. The exact origin of the word "Bangla" or "Bengal" is unclear, though it is believed to be derived from Bang/Vanga, the Dravidian-speaking tribe that settled in the area around the year 1000 BCE. Under Islamic rule, the region came to be known to the Muslim world in Persian as Bangalah. The region was known to the ancient Greek and Roman world as Gangaridai or nation of Ganges. Though still largely unclear, the early history of Bengal featured a succession of city states, maritime kingdoms and pan-Indian empires, as well as a tussle between Hinduism and Buddhism for dominance. The ancient political units of the region consisted of Vanga, Samatata, Harikela and Pundravardhana. The Mauryan Empire led by Ashoka the Great conquered Bengal in the second century BCE. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire, a local ruler named Shashanka rose to power and founded the impressive Gauda kingdom. After a period of anarchy, the Bengali Buddhist Pala dynasty ruled the region for four hundred years, followed by the Hindu Sena Dynasty. Muslim period prays upon the victory of the Mughal Navy in Bengal (1576)]] Islam was introduced to the Bengal region during the 7th century by Arab Muslim traders and Sufi missionaries, and the subsequent Muslim conquest of Bengal in the 12th century lead to the rooting of Islam across the region. Bakhtiar Khilji, a Turkic general, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal in the year 1204. The region was ruled by the Sultanate of Bengal and the Baro-Bhuiyan confederacy for the next few hundred years. By the 16th century, the Mughal Empire controlled Bengal, and Dhaka became an important provincial centre of Mughal administration. Bengal was probably the wealthiest part of the subcontinent until the 16th century. From 1517 onwards, Portuguese traders from Goa were traversing the sea route to Bengal. Only in 1537 were they allowed to settle and open customs houses at Chittagong. In 1577, the Mughal emperor Akbar permitted the Portuguese to build permanent settlements and churches in Bengal. Colonial period (1757) marked the advent of the Company RajSat D. Sharma, India Marching: Reflections from a Nationalistic Perspective, page 140, iUniverse, 2012, ISBN 9781475914221]] The influence of European traders grew until the British East India Company gained control of Bengal following the Battle of Plassey in 1757.Baxter The bloody rebellion of 1857—known as the Sepoy Mutiny—resulted in a transfer of authority to the crown with a British viceroy running the administration.Baxter, pp. 30–32 During colonial rule, famine racked South Asia many times, including the war-induced Great Bengal famine of 1943, which claimed 3 million lives. After the foundation of the British Indian Empire, Bengal was still under the heavy influence of British culture including architecture and art. The Indian Independence Movement was still underway in effort to overthrow the British Empire, and many Bengali people contributed to that effort. At the same time as the Islamic and Hindu conflicts occurred, Bengal would be split into two states. Between 1905 and 1911, an abortive attempt was made to divide the province of Bengal into two zones.Baxter, pp. 39–40 East Pakistan period (1952) sowed the seeds of Bengali nationalism that led to the Liberation War of BangladeshAqil Shah, The Army and Democracy, page 59, Harvard University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780674728936Amena Mohsin, The Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh: On the Difficult Road to Peace, page 21, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003, ISBN 9781588261380]] Following the exit of the British Empire in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines, with the western part going to newly created India and the eastern part (Muslim majority) joining Pakistan as a province called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan), with Dhaka as its capital. In 1950, land reform was accomplished in East Bengal with the abolishment of the feudal zamindari system.Baxter, p. 72 Despite the economic and demographic weight of the east, Pakistan's government and military were largely dominated by the upper classes from the west. The Bengali Language Movement of 1952 was the first sign of friction between the two wings of Pakistan.Baxter, pp. 62–63 Dissatisfaction with the central government over economic and cultural issues continued to rise through the next decade, during which the Awami League emerged as the political voice of the Bengali-speaking population. It agitated for autonomy in the 1960s, and in 1966, its president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Mujib), was jailed; he was released in 1969 after an unprecedented popular uprising. In 1970, a massive cyclone devastated the coast of East Pakistan, killing up to half a million people,Bangladesh cyclone of 1991. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. and the central government's response was seen as poor. The anger of the Bengali population was compounded when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose Awami League had won a majority in Parliament in the 1970 elections,Baxter, pp. 78–79 was blocked from taking office. After staging compromise talks with Mujibur Rahman, President Yahya Khan and military officials launched Operation Searchlight, a sustained military assault on East Pakistan, and arrested Mujibur Rahman in the early hours of 26 March 1971. Yahya's methods were extremely bloody, and the violence of the war resulted in many civilian deaths.Rummel, Rudolph J., "Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900", ISBN 3-8258-4010-7, Chapter 8, table 8.1. Rummel comments that, In East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan and his top generals planned to indiscriminately murder hundreds of thousands of its Hindus and drive the rest into India. And they planned to destroy its economic base to ensure that it would be subordinate to West Pakistan for at least a generation to come. This despicable and cutthroat plan was outright genocide. Yahya's chief targets included intellectuals and Hindus, and about one million refugees fled to neighbouring India. Estimates of those massacred throughout the war range from thirty thousand to three million.Rummel, Rudolph J., "Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900", ISBN 3-8258-4010-7, Chapter 8, Table 8.2 Pakistan Genocide in Bangladesh Estimates, Sources, and Calcualtions. Mujibur Rahman was ultimately released on 8 January 1972 as a result of direct US intervention.Sheikh Mujibur Rehman release and events on 8 January 1972. Pakblog.net (2012-01). Retrieved on 26 June 2012. Awami League leaders set up a government-in-exile in Calcutta, India. The exile government formally took oath at Meherpur, in the Kustia district of East Pakistan, on 17 April 1971, with Tajuddin Ahmad as the first Prime Minister and Syed Nazrul Islam as the Acting President. The Bangladesh Liberation War lasted for nine months. A resistance force known as the Mukti Bahini was formed from the Bangladesh Forces (consisting of Bengali regular forces) in alliance with civilian fighters such as the Kader Bahini and the Hemayet Bahini. Led by General M. A. G. Osmani, the Bangladesh Forces were organized into eleven sectors and, as part of Mukti Bahini, conducted a massive guerrilla war against the Pakistan Forces. The war witnessed the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, in which the Pakistan Army and its allied religious militias carried out a wide-scale elimination of Bengali civilians, intellectuals, youth, students, politicians, activists and religious minorities. By winter, Bangladesh-India Allied Forces defeated the Pakistan Army, culminating in its surrender and the Liberation of Dhaka on 16 December 1971. Post independence After independence, the Constitution of Bangladesh proclaimed a secular parliamentary democracy. In the 1973 general election, the Awami League gained an absolute majority in parliament. A nationwide famine occurred during 1973 and 1974, and in early 1975, Mujib initiated a one-party socialist rule with his newly formed BAKSAL. On 15 August 1975, Mujib and most of his family members were assassinated by mid-level military officers. Vice President Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmed was sworn in as President with most of Mujib's cabinet intact. Two Army uprisings on 3 November and 7 November 1975 led to a reorganised structure of power. A state of emergency was declared to restore order and calm. Mushtaq resigned, and the country was placed under temporary martial law, with three service chiefs serving as deputies to the new president, Justice Abu Satem, who also became the Chief Martial Law Administrator. Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman took over the presidency in 1977 when Justice Sayem resigned. President Zia reinstated multi-party politics, introduced free markets, and founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Zia's rule ended when he was assassinated by elements of the military in 1981. Bangladesh's next major ruler was Lieutenant General Hossain Mohammad Ershad, who gained power in a coup on 24 March 1982, and ruled until 6 December 1990, when he was forced to resign after a revolt of all major political parties and the public, along with pressure from Western donors (which was a major shift in international policy after the fall of the Soviet Union). Since then, Bangladesh has reverted to a parliamentary democracy. Zia's widow, Khaleda Zia, led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to parliamentary victory at the general election in 1991 and became the first female Prime Minister in Bangladeshi history. However, the Awami League, headed by Sheikh Hasina, one of Mujib's surviving daughters, won the next election in 1996. The Awami League lost again to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in 2001. Widespread political unrest followed the resignation of the BNP in late October 2006, but the caretaker government worked to bring the parties to election within the required ninety days. At the last minute in early January, the Awami League withdrew from the election scheduled for later that month. On 11 January 2007, the military intervened to support both a state of emergency and a continuing but neutral caretaker government under a newly appointed Chief Advisor, who was not a politician. The country had suffered for decades from extensive corruption, disorder, and political violence. The caretaker government worked to root out corruption from all levels of government. It arrested on corruption charges more than 160 people, including politicians, civil servants, and businessmen, among whom were both major party leaders, some of their senior staff, and two sons of Khaleda Zia. After working to clean up the system, the caretaker government held what was described by observers as a largely free and fair election on 29 December 2008. The Awami League's Sheikh Hasina won with a two-thirds landslide in the elections; she took the oath of Prime Minister on 6 January 2009. Geography Bangladesh is dominated by the low-lying Ganges Delta, but has highlands in the north and southeast. The Ganges delta is formed by the confluence of the Ganges (local name Padma or Pôdda), Brahmaputra (Jamuna or Jomuna), and Meghna rivers and their respective tributaries. The Ganges unites with the Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna, finally flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The alluvial soil deposited by the rivers when they overflow their banks has created some of the most fertile plains in the world. Bangladesh has 57 trans-boundary rivers, making water issues politically complicated to resolve – in most cases as the lower riparian state to India. Most parts of Bangladesh are less than above sea level, and it is estimated that about 10% of the land would be flooded if the sea level were to rise by . Sylhet Division, Chittagong Division and parts of Rangpur Division, Mymensingh District and Gazipur District feature topographically hilly areas, parts of regional mountain ranges and highland formations that include the Garo, Khasi and Tripura Hills, the Bhawal highlands, the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Arakan mountains. In southeastern Bangladesh, experiments have been done since the 1960s to 'build with nature'. Construction of cross dams has induced a natural accretion of silt, creating new land. With Dutch funding, the Bangladeshi government began promoting the development of this new land in the late 1970s. The effort has become a multiagency endeavor, building roads, culverts, embankments, cyclone shelters, toilets and ponds, as well as distributing land to settlers. By fall 2010, the program will have allotted some to 21,000 families. With an elevation of , the highest peak in Bangladesh is Saka Haphong, in Mowdok range in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, in the southeastern part of the country.SOME FREQUENTLY MISQUOTED ELEVATIONS. sol.co.uk. Climate Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, Bangladeshi climate is tropical with a mild winter from October to March, and a hot, humid summer from March to June. The country has never frozen at any point on the ground, with a record low of 4.5 °C in the south west city of Jessore in the winter of 2011."Lowest temperature in Jessore". bdnews24.com. 12 January 2011 A warm and humid monsoon season lasts from June to October and supplies most of the country's rainfall. Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal bores occur almost every year, combined with the effects of deforestation, soil degradation and erosion. The cyclones of 1970 and 1991 were particularly devastating. A cyclone that struck Bangladesh in 1991 killed some 140,000 people."Beset by Bay's Killer Storms, Bangladesh Prepares and Hopes". Los Angeles Times. 27 February 2005 In September 1998, Bangladesh saw the most severe flooding in modern world history. As the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and Meghna spilt over and swallowed 300,000 houses, of road and of embankment, 1,000 people were killed and 30 million more were made homeless, with 135,000 cattle killed, of land destroyed and of roads damaged or destroyed. Two-thirds of the country was underwater. There were several reasons for the severity of the flooding. Firstly, there were unusually high monsoon rains. Secondly, the Himalayas shed off an equally unusually high amount of melt water that year. Thirdly, trees that usually would have intercepted rain water had been cut down for firewood or to make space for animals. Bangladesh is now widely recognised to be one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Natural hazards that come from increased rainfall, rising sea levels, and tropical cyclones are expected to increase as climate changes, each seriously affecting agriculture, water and food security, human health and shelter.Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2008 Ministry of Environment and Forests Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, September 2008. It is believed that in the coming decades the rising sea level alone will create more than 20 millionThe Climate refugee Challenge, ReliefWeb, 14 April 2009 climate refugees."Another Major Cyclone, Bangladesh Worries About Climate Change", PBS News Hour, 2008 Bangladeshi water is contaminated with arsenic frequently because of the high arsenic contents in the soil. Up to 77 million people are exposed to toxic arsenic from drinking water. Bangladesh is among the countries most prone to natural floods, tornados and cyclones.cyclone relief effort hampered updated 17 November 2007 associated pressCountry Emergency Situation Profile: Bangladesh prone areas Also, there is evidence that earthquakes pose a threat to the country. Evidence shows that tectonics have caused rivers to shift course suddenly and dramatically. It has been shown that rainy-season flooding in Bangladesh, on the world’s largest river delta, can push the underlying crust down by as much as 6 centimetres, and possibly perturb faults.Beneath Bangladesh: The Next Great Earthquake?. earth.columbia.edu (12 July 2011) Flora and fauna Panthera tigris tigris.jpg|'National animal':Royal Bengal Tiger Copsychus saularis - Ang Khang female.jpg|'National bird': Oriental Magpie-Robin Jackfruit Bangladesh (3).JPG|'National fruit': Jackfruit Teratai.JPG|'National flower': Nymphaea nouchali Mango Bangladesh (5).JPG|'National tree': Mango Tenualosa ilisha Day.png|'National fish': Tenualosa ilisha A major part of the coastline is marshy jungle, the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and home to diverse flora and fauna, including the Royal Bengal Tiger. In 1997, this region was declared endangered. The Magpie Robin is the National Bird of Bangladesh and it is common and known as the Doyel or Doel ( ). It is a widely used symbol in Bangladesh, appearing on currency notes and a landmark in the city of Dhaka is named as the Doyel Chatwar (meaning: Doyel Square). The national flower of the country is white-flowered water lily, which is known as Shapla. The national fruit is jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), which in Bengali is known as Kathal. In late 2010, the Bangladeshi government selected the Mango tree as the national tree. Politics and law Government , seat of the National Parliament in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, is one of the most important works of modern architectureStephen Sennott, Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture, page 361, Taylor & Francis, 2004, ISBN 9781579584337